Looking for advice on sliding table saw purchase
Hi-
I'm weighing the options for adding a sliding saw to my shop. I have a SawStop PCS at the moment but I've come to think that a slider is going to be a lot more helpful in the kind of work I do. (I'll probably keep the cabinet saw, albeit chopped down to a smaller footprint.) I have room for a 8' slider (2600mm stroke). 10' is a little big. I have 3-phase available if I need it. I don't have any 3ph machines now, but courtesy of the previous shop tenant there's 3ph/600v panel with "sliding table saw" written on it. I'm in Ottawa, Canada.
The contenders at the moment are these three, all fairly close in price:
- new Minimax sc4e (around $12k CAD)
- new Cantek D405M-8 (also around $13k CAD)
- (lightly) used Altendorf WA-6 (around $10k CAD)
I got a quote for a Felder K500s as well, but it's a few $k more, and not sure it's worth it.
The Minimax is appealing in terms of how it's equipped, the dealer/service is not that far away (Montreal), and I can continue to use my existing 10" blades and 8" dado blades if I want. Downside perhaps is that the scoring unit is belt-driven off the main motor...but I don't think that's a big deal for me and what I do.
Cantek has a good support network but somehow the saw features do not seem quite as good.
The Altendorf is tempting because I think that saw is normally more like $15-16k. Would I need a technician to set it up, though? Support would be through Akhurst, the same dealer for the Cantek.
If anyone has experience with any of these saws or other brands I should consider, let me know! I've not seen any of these machines in person, not sure when I'd be able to.
Thanks,
Chris.